The Department of the Navy will christen the Oceanographic Research Ship, R/V
Roger Revelle (AGOR-24), during a ceremony at 1 p.m., Thursday, April 20, 1995,
at Halter Marine, Moss Point, Mississippi.
The Roger Revelle is the first of 3 ships under contract with Halter Marine.
The Roger Revelle and AGOR 25, upon delivery, will be managed by the Office of
Naval Research (ONR). These ships will be operated by the Scripps Institute of
Oceanography and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, respectively. The third
ship will be owned and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
Rear Admiral George W. Davis, VI, Oceanographer of the Navy, will be the
ceremony's principal speaker. The ship will be christened by Mrs. Ellen
Revelle Eckis, the widow of the ship's namesake and grandniece of Edward Willis
and Ellen Browning Scripps, for whom the Scripps Institute is named.
Roger Revelle is named after the late Roger R. D. Revelle (1909-1991), a
renowned oceanographer. A distinguished university researcher and professor,
wartime naval officer and officer in charge of the oceanographic section of the
Bureau of Ships (now Naval Sea Systems Command), Dr. Revelle established the
Office of Naval Research and headed its Geophysics Branch; directed the Scripps
Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California; and founded the University
of California at San Diego. After World War II, he confirmed the Navy's role
in funding oceanographic expeditions by assisting in the conversion of Navy
ships to research vessels.
These research ships provide general purpose oceanographic research
capabilities in coastal and deep ocean areas. They are capable of collecting
oceanographic, acoustic and geophysical data and have the speed and endurance
to meet worldwide ocean research and data collection requirements year round.
The Roger Revelle is 274 feet in length, has a beam of 53 feet and displaces
3,250 tons fully loaded.
For information relating to the christening, the Supervisor of Shipbuilding,
Conversion and Repair point of contact is Ms. Maria Norman, at (601) 475-1211,
extension 79.
